The Comedy Bureau is a new YouTube series and video podcast presented by comedy historian Dr. Oliver Double and comedian Laura Lexx. The Comedy Bureau will investigate the biggest, sometimes seemingly impossible, questions about comedy. They might even stumble upon a few answers.
It will blend cultural insight, sharp wit, and genuine obsession with comedy’s hidden depths to uncover industry secrets through the ages: from court jesters to modern stand-ups. Filmed in the basements of Brighton’s legendary Komedia, The Comedy Bureau is set in a fictional-but-familiar academic department within UNI - The University of Niche Interests. This dusty, underfunded - yet somehow still operating - department is staffed by two real-life characters from opposite ends of the comedy world: full-time performer Lexx, and renowned comedy scholar Double, once dubbed by Stewart Lee as 'the Charles Darwin of alternative comedy'.
Both take their funny business very seriously indeed, and each episode sees them dive deep into the archives to answer questions such as:
● What is a joke?
● Why do we laugh at others?
● Who was the first stand up comedian?
● Is ‘woke’ killing comedy?
● Are women funny?
● What was a court jester?
● What's the deal with stand up and brick walls?
They don’t always find a definitive answer, but that’s half the fun as Lexx and Double learn about the history, culture, and psychology of humour. The Comedy Bureau is a digital series that recreates a nostalgic, analogue experience for the audience. Full of charm, humour and genuinely surprising insights into a world rarely taken this seriously, Lexx describes the show as: “nerdy in a leather bound way: libraries and dust motes, and poring over long-forgotten playbills and reviews, with thick rimmed glasses, subterranean skin and one thousand Post-It notes.”
The Comedy Bureau launches in September and can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/@the.comedy.bureau
About the hosts: Dr. Oliver Double, Reader in Comic and Popular Performance at the University of Kent, is a former comedian and author of several books, including ‘Alternative Comedy’, ‘Britain Had Talent: A History of Variety Theatre’, ‘Getting the Joke’ and ‘Stand Up! On Being a Comedian’. From 2005-2009 he had a student who went on to become Laura Lexx. Oliver also curates the British Stand-Up Comedy Archive (BSUSA) which celebrates, preserves, and provides access to the archives and records of British stand-up comedy and comedians. ‘The Charles Darwin of Alternative Comedy.’ Stewart Lee.
Laura Lexx is an award-winning and critically acclaimed comedian, author and actor, as seen on ‘Live At The Apollo’, ‘Mock The Week’, ‘Roast Battle’, ‘Celebrity Mastermind’, ‘Hypothetical’ and her podcast ‘Lexx Education’. ‘A show that somehow throws you up in the air, inducing giggling delight, at the same time as it delivers a lurch to the stomach.’ Daily Telegraph ‘If anyone can make an audience crack up about, well, cracking-up, Laura Lexx seems able to.’ Broadway Baby
Picture Credit: Karla Gowlett
Notes: The artwork and badge for the Comedy Bureau created by Tiny Worlds Workshop - artwork from Matthew Grant of Noise Next door. The music for the show was created by Oliver Double.
